I just have to tell you publicly about today's walk... We got past a black cat half a block from home without him even noticing, only barked once at a black shepherd behind a fence, and even then only when the dog's head popped over the to of the fence, stood across a small neighbourhood intersection from a very yappy small dog without barking or lunging, even ate treats, then immediately saw another small fluffy dog on leash just slightly farther, even chose to look away to me for treats as the dog was getting closer. Got past another cat in an area he always is on guard for said cat, without even a second glance (cheese is magical food!) He barked once and half heartedly lunged at a guy going the other way on a skateboard, but immediately responded when I said, "Let's go" (My fault for not being more pro-active, I was watching and actually thought he wasn't going to react.) Made it past a bike and a kid on a scooter and stood nicely while I spoke to a lady who came out and said she loved watching me work with my dog, had been watching for months as I walked him by her house. Felt good, and I have to thank you so much!This would not have been possible a few months ago.


--Melanie, Nanaimo

I heard about Fairy Dogmother from a rescue site I’d been following on Facebook when I was looking for a dog to add to our family. From the first meeting, our rescue was more than comfortable with Jenn and oh-so-happy with the treats she was handing out! Little did Sadie know, Jenn was training her for specific behaviours. As Sadie is a fearful dog, Jenn let us know we had our work cut out for us, and set up a plan for us all to succeed. The emails with notes she compiled from each of our appointments have been helpful to review when Sadie and I are having issues getting to our goals. When we needed to, we would reset and start again, moving ever forward. Jenn is always on time, keeps to the allotted time for our appointments, is full of great information and help for how best to coach Sadie along to be her best doggie-self. Given Sadie’s background, I know it’ll take a long time, but with Jenn helping us along, I’m sure we’ll get there happy and healthy. And with lots of doggie kisses.           PS – Sadie would just like to say “When is Jenn coming over again?  I loves her!!!”

--Michelle, Nanaimo


We rescued Chloe from the Nanaimo Animal Shelter in June 2013. She was a very scared nervous dog and a runner so we had to be very careful not to let her loose. We like to travel quite a bit and didn’t want to put Chloe in a kennel so when they told us about, Jenn who house sits and trains dogs as well, we were quite excited. Since that day Jenn has house sat for us many times and every time we come back Chloe has learned a new trick. We get to see her doing these tricks on Facebook  and see how happy she is. Chloe was also aggressive on leash to other dogs, lunging and barking.  Jenn worked on that as well and taught us a lot. Chloe is such a different better happy dog now. We would recommend Jenn to anyone, she takes great care of the house and even better care of our dog. Chloe just loves her and is so excited to see her.

--Jill, Nanaimo


Our farm welcomes 2-4 new volunteers every month. Needless to say, it is critically important that our farm dogs, who are a vital part of the farm team, are safe around new people.  We realised that we were taking on a major challenge when we adopted a 2-year-old, highly reactive cattle dog who needed a new home. Fortunately, someone referred us to Jenn for help. She taught us how to use positive reinforcement to change very ingrained behaviours that made this dog unsafe around either people or other animals. We particularly liked that these methods are scientifically proven, eliminate the need to use force or harsh corrections and can easily be learned by most people. After only one session with Jenn we had established a procedure to safely introduce the dog to new people and we are pleased to report that Bunyip has met and made friends with all our new volunteers since, without a single incident. We are using the same methods to gradually teach him to be comfortable around other dogs, cats, livestock and horses. Our other farm dogs are benefitting as well:  we have, for example, successfully shaped a much better recall in our notoriously independently minded livestock guardian dogs! We highly recommend Jenn to anyone who wants to learn animal welfare-friendly training methods that work!

--Maria and John, Quennell Lake Livestock Conservancy